


Night Light

by LtTanyaBoone



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-13
Updated: 2012-06-13
Packaged: 2017-11-16 02:28:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/534475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LtTanyaBoone/pseuds/LtTanyaBoone
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Babysitting Henry reveals one of Reid's secrets. *written for the cmpromptmeme on LJ*</p>
            </blockquote>





	Night Light

**Disclaimers:** Criminal Minds, the rights to the show and its characters do not belong to me. No money was made by this.  
 **Spoilers:** everything, short reference to the ending of S7  
 **Pairing:** Emily Prentiss/Spencer Reid  
 **Rating:** FRT

_prompt: Reid/someone - why he's afraid of the dark. No non-con, please._

* * *

“Uncle Spence!” Henry exclaimed, wrapping his arms around Reid’s legs. The man staggered lightly and Emily quickly pried Henry loose and lifted him up into her arms to prevent him from hugging Reid’s leg again before the man had set down his things. When she was sure that nothing could be dropped, she let Henry down again and the boy went back to his uncle, hugging him tightly. Spencer smiled down at the child, bending down and rubbing Henry’s shoulders as he greeted the boy and Emily smiled to herself, deciding that she could leave the two alone and get started with the dinner preparations. _  
_

* * *

“Hey, that’s mine!” Reid exclaimed when Henry leaned over the table and stole a sausage from his plate, grinning at the man.

“Henry, no.” Prentiss chastised the boy and stood up, changing seat with him and quickly catching the boy’s hand when he made to steal from her plate, too. “No.” she shook her head, biting her tongue to keep herself from smiling at the adorable face her nephew was making. Now she understood why JJ had made sure that she’d be able to take full care of Henry while her and Will went on a week long honeymoon: it was unbelievably hard to be mad at the boy. Or at least to act stern when he was smiling up at her like this.

“You have your own plate. If you want more food, you have to ask for it.” she told him as she sat down again. Henry frowned at her briefly before putting a piece of cut up sandwich into his mouth and chewing.

“Can I have ‘sert?” the boy piped up once his sandwich was gone. Before Prentiss could even say anything, Reid stood and went back to the fridge, returning with two cups of yoghurt.

“Strawberry or raspberry?” he asked the boy, holding out the cups for him to inspect and Henry eagerly pointed at the raspberry one, handing it to Emily so she could open it for him. She leaned back and watched the boy eat his desert, hiding a grin behind her glass of water when she noticed that Henry and Reid where moving their spoons in tandem. _  
_

* * *

“Do you want us to read you a story?” Emily as Henry after her and Reid had tucked him in in Emily’s guest bedroom. The boy shook his head mutely, hugging his stuffed bear close.

“Okay, well then, sweet dreams.” Prentiss said, standing and pressing a soft kiss to the boy’s head. Reid stroked over Henry’s hair before he turned and the two went to leave the bedroom. As soon as Prentiss killed the light, though, Henry shot up in bed and screamed out, making the adults whirl around in surprise. Prentiss quickly turned the light back on, shocked by the terror she saw on Henry’s face.

“Where’s his night light?” Reid frowned, going back to the bed and lifting Henry into his lap.

“Night light?” Emily heard herself echo, shaking her head.

“He has a night light at home. You plug it on and it throws figures on the ceiling, makes it look like it’s an aquarium.” Reid explained, running his hand up and down Henry’s back soothingly and keeping his voice even.

“I didn’t…” Emily trailed off, walking over to the bag that JJ had given her and rummaging through it. A groan escaped her lips. “She forgot to pack it.” she mumbled, rubbing a hand over her face. “Now what? We can hardly let him sleep with the lights on, the shops are closed already-” she started panicking as Reid shook his head.

“It’s okay, wait a second.” he interrupted her, getting up and disappearing briefly before he came back, holding something in his hands. He went over to the power socket and put the light in, turning it on before he went to kill the main light again. Emily had gone over to the bed and was holding Henry in her lap, kissing the boy’s temple.

“That okay?” she asked him. The boy frowned at the light. “It’s just for tonight, I promise. We’ll go out and get you one that’s like yours tomorrow.” she soothed him. Henry slowly nodded.

“Okay.” he muttered, rubbing a hand over his eyes. “I want a story.” he decided and Emily rolled her eyes but decided to give him. Reading to the boy was a lot of fun, especially since she got Reid to join in and he made all the different voices for the characters in the book JJ had packed.

Half an hour later, when she was sure that Henry had indeed fallen asleep, Emily sighed and relaxed back against Reid’s shoulder as they reclined on her couch.

“Can I ask you something?” she muttered, surprised at how tired she was at only half past eight.

“Sure.” Reid said, though she could already feel him tensing up in anticipation of her question.

“Why do you have a night light in your bag?” she asked, turning to look at him.

“It’s my go bag, the one I take on cases.” Spencer shrugged, shifting uncomfortably. Emily nodded.

“I know that. What I don’t know is why.” she pushed. He watched her carefully before sighing.

“Because I can’t sleep in the dark.” he told her, shrugging again. Prentiss hesitated, wanting to ask him what had caused it, but biting her lip to stop herself from prying. Neither him nor her worked like that; when someone started pushing them they were more likely to retaliate than to open up about things.

“I had horrible nightmares a child.” Reid suddenly volunteered, shaking his head. “And my room was so stuffed with things… I kept imagining monster where the shadows where, in all these weird forms. I got slightly better at college, part of that was because I was sharing my room and my roommate was pretty much nocturnal, so I never fell asleep in darkness, or woke up in it. When I started at the BAU, the nightmares came back, only now the shadows I see in the dark are those of people we have caught and those who have eluded us.” he told her and Emily drew a shaky breath, reaching out to squeeze his thigh.

“I’ve never heard Morgan or Rossi say anything about a night light. Nor did I see it.” she breathed, her heart constricting as she remembered the horror on Henry’s face and thought about Spencer experiencing the same. Reid shook his head.

“I don’t take it out when I’m sharing a room with someone. I usually just pretend to fall asleep reading on cases, so I can leave the light on through the night.” he admitted, hesitating briefly. “I never needed it with you.” he added, his voice gone soft. Prentiss’ eyebrows rose in surprise. “It’s true. Something about you just… I can concentrate on your instead of the darkness. I can try to make out your face or listen to you breathing. Run my hand down your back,” he explained, following through with the action. A shiver ran down Emily’s spine at the touch and she felt his hand slip under her shirt, his fingers ghosting over her skin. “Besides, I’m usually too exhausted even for my mind to wander.” he grinned at her and leaned in for a kiss.

_fin._


End file.
